A Global Industry

CHAPTER •••• 1 A global industry

Introduction The conference industry is a young, dynamic industry which is growing and maturing at a rapid rate. From origins in Europe and North America, it is now a truly international industry witnessing huge investments across all continents. Its youthfulness, however, does mean that it lacks some of the necessary characteristics of more established industries, such as well deﬁned terminology, adequate market intelligence, appropriate education and training structures and clear entry routes. Conferences are part of the business tourism (or business events) sector, a major though often under-valued sector of the wider tourism industry. This chapter looks at:

• the origins of the conference industry • the foundations of a proper industry • the industry’s recent globalisation • world rankings of leading cities and countries • certain industry shortcomings • industry parameters and deﬁnitions • business tourism and leisure tourism • the beneﬁts of conference and business tourism.

It includes case studies on:

• City of Melbourne, Australia • The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London, England • Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India • Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates • Coral Beach Hotel and Resort, Paphos, Cyprus. Conferences and Conventions

Learning outcomes

On completion of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Explain why and how the conference industry developed in the way it did • Understand the international dimensions of the industry and appreciate which are the most successful cities and countries • Discuss the features of the industry which illustrate the steps still required to achieve full maturation • Understand the key beneﬁts afforded by conference and business tourism, and what distinguishes it from leisure tourism.

THE ORIGINS OF THE CONFERENCE INDUSTRY American Presidents hosting the latest Middle East Summit at Camp David in Maryland, the Royal College of Nursing holding its annual conference in Bournemouth, members of the Interna- tional Congress and Convention Association gathering for their assembly and congress in Montevideo, shareholders of Microsoft or HSBC attending the company’s annual general meeting, the sales force of GlaxoSmithKline coming together for a regular briefing or training event, or their high achievers jetting off for an incentive-cum-meeting trip to an exotic overseas destination. The different events described above have one thing in common: they are all to do with bringing people together, face-to-face, to exchange ideas and information, to discuss and in some cases negotiate, to build friendships and closer business relationships, to encourage better performance by individuals and organizations. They are different facets of the same dynamic, international, economically vibrant conference industry. The terms used (‘summit’, ‘meeting’, ‘conference’, ‘assembly’, ‘convention’, ‘congress’, ‘AGM’, ‘briefing’, ‘training’, ‘incentive’) may vary, and the events themselves may have different formats and emphases, but the essential ingredients and objectives are the same. Conferences are at the forefront of modern communications, whether this is for internal communications (sales meetings, training seminars, board retreats, major annual conferences, for example) or as a vehicle for communicating with key audiences (such as press briefings, product launches, annual general meetings, some technical conferences). Conferences is a generic term to describe a diverse mix of communications events. The phrase ‘conference industry’ is of very recent origin, and is certainly not one that would have been heard until the second half of the twentieth century. Yet people’s need to congregate

••••• 2 A global industry and confer is one of the things that defines our humanity and, for a multitude of different reasons, meetings and gatherings of people have taken place since the early days of civilization. Shone (1998) traces the evolution of meetings since Roman times in Britain and Ireland, and the development of meeting rooms and meeting places to accommodate these, driven largely by the needs of trade and commerce. One of the highest profile events in the past couple of hundred years, perhaps almost a launch event for our contempo- rary conference industry, was the Congress of Vienna held from September 1814 to June 1815. The Congress was called to re- establish the territorial divisions of Europe at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and representatives included all of the major world powers of the day (with the exception of Turkey). It is tempting to imagine what the ‘delegate spend’ must have been like, with delegates such as Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, Prince Karl August von Hardenberg from Prussia, and Viscount Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington as the principal British representatives. Each representative would have been accompanied by a substantial delegation of support staff and partners, requiring accommodation, social programmes, lavish corporate entertainment, ground handling, not to mention state-of-the-art conference facilities. The Vienna Convention Bureau no doubt celebrated long and hard its success in attracting such a high- profile, high-spend event to the city! As the nineteenth century progressed, universities increasingly provided facilities for the dissemination of information within academic circles, while the boom in spa towns and, in the UK, Victorian resorts with assembly rooms began to make available larger public spaces for entertainment and meetings. At the same time, the development of the railway network was accompanied by the construction of railway hotels alongside major stations. Many of these hotels had substantial function rooms available for hire. Shone contends that the dawn of the twentieth century was accompanied by a change in the demand for meetings:

Though assemblies and congresses continued to be driven by trade and industry, there was a slow and grad- ual increase in activity which, rather than promoting prod- ucts, or reporting a company’s annual progress, looked to developing staff and sales. The precursors of the sales training meeting, the ‘congress of commercials’ (or commercial travellers) of the 1920s and 1930s, began to develop into something more modern and recognizable.

The situation was somewhat different in North America during the latter half of the nineteenth century, particularly across the

3 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

eastern seabord of the USA where various trade and professional associations, as well as religious groups, were being formed and, as they became more established, beginning to hold conventions for their memberships. Gartrell (1994) records that, in due course, a number of committees were also created to:

lure the growing convention business from these expand- ing and thriving associations’. As more and more cities became aware of the value of convention business, Gartrell suggests that it was ‘inevitable that the solicita- tion of these conventions would be assigned to a full-time salesperson; and, while this might have happened in any one of many major cities, history records that it ﬁrst happened in Detroit, Michigan, when a group of businessmen decided to place a full-time salesperson on the road to invite conventions to their city. Thus, in 1896, the ﬁrst convention bureau was formed, and an industry emerged.

Detroit was shortly followed by other US cities which established their own convention bureaux: Cleveland (1904), Atlantic City (1908), Denver and St Louis (1909), Louisville and Los Angeles (1910). Now many cities around the world have their own convention bureau, or convention and visitor bureau.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF A PROPER INDUSTRY While the origins of today’s conference industry lie in the political and religious congresses of earlier centuries, followed by business meetings and, in the USA, trade and professional association conventions, the development and recognition of a proper ‘industry’ is a much more recent phenomenon, in Europe especially, effectively dating from the middle to latter part of the twentieth century. The foundation of trade associations is often a useful, objec- tive way of marking the real formation of an industry. Some of the principal conference industry associations were founded as follows:

International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) – 1928 Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) – 1957 Association Internationale des Palais de Congrès (AIPC) – 1958 International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) – 1963 European Federation of Conference Towns (EFCT) – 1964

••••• 4 A global industry

International Association of Professional Congress Organizers (IAPCO) – 1968 British Association of Conference Destinations (BACD) – 1969 Meeting Professionals International (MPI) – 1972 Meetings & Events Australia (MEA) (originally Meetings Industry Association of Australia – MIAA) – 1975 Association of British Professional Conference Organizers (ABPCO) – 1981 Meetings Industry Association (MIA) (UK) – 1990

The Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) (until 2005 known as the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus – IACVB), on the other hand, with a pre- dominantly North American membership, was founded as long ago as 1914. Since the 1960s there has been a steadily increasing investment in the whole infrastructure that supports conferences, meetings and related events, an investment which accelerated into a rapid growth during the 1990s. The 1990s were almost certainly the decade which recorded the highest sustained investment to date in global conference infrastructure, but such investment has continued unabated into the new millennium. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 give details of newly-built and re-developed conference and convention facilities in just two countries, Australia and the United Kingdom, epitomising the huge scale of investment that has taken place over the past couple of decades. This list does not include other substantial investments in buildings which, though not purpose-built for the conventions industry, are capable of staging very large conferences, such as (in the UK) the Shefﬁeld Arena (12 000 seats, £45 million), Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena (13 000 seats, £51 million), Manchester’s £42 million Bridgewater Hall and the 19 000-seat Nynex Arena, the Newcastle Arena (10 000 seats, £10.5 million) in Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff (1900-seat auditorium, £104 million). Case Study 1.1 traces the developments and investments made by the City of Melbourne in its convention ‘product’ over recent years, while Case Study 1.2 describes the ongoing enhance- ments to facilities and business development made by The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London. But it is not just in Europe, Australasia and North America that major investments are being made. In the past 5–10 years, large- scale infrastructure projects have been undertaken throughout much of Asia and the Paciﬁc rim, in the former East European

5 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

Name of Centre Year of Opening Cost (AU$m)

Adelaide Convention Centre 1987 Not available 2001 extension completed 85 Sydney Convention & 1988 230 Exhibition Centre Canberra National 1989 Not available Convention Centre Melbourne Exhibition & 1990 (1996 for Exhibition 254 (combined cost) Convention Centre Centre) Melbourne Convention 2009 completion of a new 370 Centre 5000-seat convention centre adjacent to existing facility Brisbane Convention & 1994 200 Exhibition Centre 2009 completion of 100 expansion programme Cairns Convention Centre 1995 (Convention Centre Not available extension opened in 1999); 2005 major refurbishment 10 completed Convention Centre South – 1999 60 Sydney Federation Concert Hall and 2000 16 Convention Centre – Hobart Alice Springs Convention 2003 14.2 Centre Perth Convention & 2004 220 Exhibition Centre Darwin Convention Centre 2008 including a Part of a 1 billion 1500-seat main waterfront development auditorium project

Source: PKFCA Research and author’s research

Table 1.1 Investments in major Australian convention centres since mid-1980s

countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic, in the Middle East, and in a number of African countries, particularly South Africa. Case Studies 1.3 and 1.4 give detailed examples of two such investments, one at venue level (Hyderabad International Convention Centre in India), and one at a national level (Abu Dhabi).

••••• 6 A global industry

Name of Centre Year of Cost (£m) Opening/Completion

International Convention 1991 180 Centre (Birmingham) Plymouth Pavilions 1992 25 Cardiff International Arena 1993 25 Venue Cymru (formerly North Wales 1994 6 Conference Centre) – major expansion scheduled for completion in 2007 2007 105 Edinburgh International Conference 1995 38 Centre – a major expansion is planned for completion in 2009 2009 30 Belfast Waterfront Hall 1997 32 (Conference Centre and Concert Hall) Clyde Auditorium at the 1997 38 Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre ExCel, London – plans for a £90 million 2000 300 extension are in the pipeline, for completion in 2009 Manchester International 2001 24 Convention Centre The International Centre, 2002 12 Telford – major re-development Aberdeen Exhibition & 2003 18 Conference Centre – major re-development The Villa Marina, Isle of 2004 15 Man (major re-development) The Sage, Gateshead 2004 70 Bournemouth International 2005 22 Centre – major re-development Southport Theatre and 2007 40 Floral Hall complex – major re-development Arena and Convention 2008 146 Centre, Liverpool

Table 1.2 Investments in major UK convention centres since 1990

7 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

There appear to be a number of reasons for these investments, many of which are paid for out of central government and other public sector funds:

• such countries and destinations are probably already active in the leisure tourism sector and have developed much of the infrastructure for this sector which is the same (airports and other communications facilities, 3-star/4-star/5-star hotels, attractions, trained staff, for example) as that required to attract international conference business. And, although additional investment in purpose-built conference and exhibition facilities may be a not insignificant cost, it is likely to be a relatively small additional amount compared with the total infrastructure investments already made • such destinations quite rightly see conference business as complementary to leisure tourism business, in the same way that the longer-established destinations do • conference and business tourism, being at the high quality, high yield end of the tourism spectrum, brings major economic benefits for developing as well as for developed countries. Such benefits include year-round jobs and foreign exchange earn- ings. There is also the potential for future inward investment from conference delegates who have liked and been impressed by what they have seen of a country while attending a conference there and return to set up a business operation, or persuade their own employers to do so • there is undoubted prestige in being selected to host a major international conference and some less developed countries would see this as a way of gaining credibility and acceptance on the international political stage. There is perhaps an element of conferences and conference centres being developed as status symbols, signs of having ‘arrived’ as destinations to be taken seriously.

Such huge infrastructure investments are driven by a number of demand factors, both economic and social (analysed in further detail in Chapter 3). The challenge for those planning major new purpose-built convention centres (usually local authorities or municipalities and public sector organizations) is to anticipate future demand accurately. Lead time from the initial idea for a convention centre until its opening can be as much as 10 years. The process involves, inter alia, identiﬁcation of a suitable site, design and planning stages, assembly of the funding package, construction of venue and related infrastructure, recruitment and training of staff, and advance promotion. In such a period, substantial changes in the wider marketplace may have occurred. There is less of a risk for hotel and smaller venue developments, where the period between initial concept and completion

••••• 8 A global industry

is much shorter (typically 3–5 years), but the same principles apply. Many venues conceived, for example, in the boom times of the late 1980s found that they were opening in a very different market in the early 1990s, with the economy in full recession, and many of the venues struggled or foundered as a result. A similar economic cycle was experienced in the late 1990s and early years of the new millennium.

THE INDUSTRY’S RECENT GLOBALISATION Conference and business tourism is a very important sector of the tourism industry, an industry which, in all its guises, is claimed to be the world’s largest. Conference tourism is now a truly global industry, as evidenced by the examples of international investments described earlier in this chapter. But there is much other evidence to substantiate such a claim. Nowhere is its truth better demonstrated than in the evolution of one of the industry’s major trade shows, the European Incentive and Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition (EIBTM), which is held in Barcelona in November each year. In 1988, 54 countries were represented as exhibitors at EIBTM (when the event was held in Geneva), a number which had almost doubled by 2005 to 95 countries. In the same period the number of visitors increased from 2850 in 1988 to 5689 in 2005, with 78 different countries supplying visitors to the show in 2005. And yet, while competition is increasing from countries seek- ing to act as suppliers to the conference industry, the markets from which to win business still remain relatively few in number. 80 per cent of the visitors to EIBTM 2005 were drawn from just 8 countries (see Table 1.3). There are a number of reasons for this:

• the national economies of many of the emerging nations are not yet sufﬁciently strong for their corporate sector organizations to be planning events overseas (sales meetings, product launches, incentive events, for example) • the headquarters of many international associations and inter- governmental organizations are located in Western Europe and North America. Such headquarters are also where those organizing events on behalf of these bodies are based • market intelligence is much better developed in respect of the ‘buyers’ (conference organizers) in the most experienced con- ventioneering countries. Quite sophisticated databases exist detailing the buying requirements and preferences of conference organizers in the more established North American and European markets. Such data do not yet exist, either in quantity or quality, for many of the newer markets.

9 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

Market % Market %

Benelux 4.4 Spain 355 France 7.3 Scandinavia 25 Germany 9.8 Switzerland 19 Italy 6.5 UK 117 Table 1.3 Markets supplying visitors Source: Reed Travel Exhibitions to EIBTM 2005

WORLD RANKINGS OF LEADING CITIES AND COUNTRIES The global nature of the conference industry is also very well illustrated by ﬁgures produced annually by the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA), from its headquarters in Amsterdam, and by the Union of International Associa- tions (UIA), which is based in Brussels. Such ﬁgures record the staging of international conferences and conventions by country and city. They enable trends to be monitored and give an indica- tion of which countries and cities are gaining market share and which may be losing it.

International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) Rankings The International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) began in 1972 to collect information on international association meetings. This association database now holds in-depth proﬁles with information on the location and other characteristics of around 11 000 international meetings, which have to conform to the following criteria for inclusion:

• be organized on a regular basis (one-time events are not included) • rotate between at least 3 different countries • be attended by at least 50 participants.

Some of the key characteristics and trends of the international association conference market, as elicited by ICCA in 2006, are summarized in the section on international association conferences in Chapter 2. The database allows ICCA to provide rankings (by country and city) showing the market share achieved by individual countries and cities through securing and staging such international meetings. ICCA’s ﬁgures for 2003–2005, shown in Table 1.4, reveal market share for the top 50 countries by number of events in that 3-year period (with rankings based on the country’s performance in 2005). The table underlines the global nature of conferences, including as it does many countries which would not

••••• 10 A global industry

Country 2003 2004 2005

1 USA 445 435 376 2 Germany 264 323 320 3 Spain 273 304 275 4 United Kingdom 271 242 270 5 France 218 267 240 6 Netherlands 163 208 197 7 Italy 277 224 196 8 Australia 141 160 164 9 Austria 140 145 157 10 Switzerland 147 134 151 11 Brazil 85 114 145 12 Japan 156 147 142 13 Sweden 137 143 134 14 China 61 145 129 15 Singapore 78 105 125 16 Canada 128 144 123 17 Republic of Korea 74 118 108 18 Portugal 126 116 105 19 Finland 120 113 103 20 Hungary 75 94 97 21 Hong Kong 40 89 95 22 Greece 78 99 94 23 Belgium 79 99 92 24 = Denmark 96 96 82 24 = Thailand 82 85 82 26 Czech Republic 92 76 74 27 Poland 49 71 73 28 = Norway 81 81 68 28 = Turkey 53 59 68 30 Ireland 71 60 67 31 Mexico 77 74 65 32 South Africa 58 64 56 33 Malaysia 63 82 52 34 Taiwan 37 52 50 35 Chile 32 42 48 36 India 41 47 47 37 Argentina 28 40 37 38 Uruguay 15 10 34 39 Indonesia 24 22 31 40 = Cuba 29 21 29 40 = Slovenia 27 33 29 42 Russia 28 31 27 43 New Zealand 26 30 25 44 Philippines 29 21 23 45 Croatia 26 29 22 46 Iceland 16 18 20 47 Colombia 11 9 17 48 Cyprus 10 10 16 49 = Egypt 12 11 15 49 = Vietnam 12 13 15 Table 1.4 Total 4701 5155 5010 ICCA Rankings (Number of international association Source: ‘International Association Meetings Market 1996–2005’, Interna- meetings per country tional Congress & Convention Association (web site: www.icca.world.com) 2003–2005)

11 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

have appeared at all, even just a few years ago, such as Croatia and Uruguay. Although international conferences and conventions are tracked by country as shown in Table 1.4, the events are actually won by individual destinations (normally cities) through a bidding process, and ICCA’s record of where events were held on a city basis in 2005 (see Table 1.5) provides a challenging test to

City 2003 2004 2005

1 Vienna 98 108 129 2 Singapore 78 105 125 3 Barcelona 94 114 116 4 Berlin 80 105 100 5 Hong Kong 39 89 95 6 Paris 74 101 91 7 Amsterdam 52 67 82 8 = Budapest 63 78 77 8 = Seoul 43 71 77 10 Stockholm 69 68 72 11 = Copenhagen 66 72 66 11 = Lisbon 74 73 66 13 London 61 61 62 14 = Beijing 23 76 61 14 = Prague 79 68 61 16 Bangkok 57 60 56 17 = Brussels 35 47 52 17 = Madrid 56 55 52 17 = Sydney 40 34 52 20 = Dublin 53 45 50 20 = Munich 24 32 50 22 Melbourne 39 34 48 23 Edinburgh 45 37 47 24 = Athens 36 49 44 24 = Istanbul 42 41 44 26 Rome 64 52 43 27 Taipei 25 43 42 28 Tokyo 28 28 40 29 Rio de Janeiro 34 36 39 30 = Geneva 39 37 38 30 = Kuala Lumpur 38 54 38 30 = Santiago de Chile 26 28 38 33 Glasgow 33 31 35 34 Helsinki 65 47 34 35 Montreal 31 35 33 36 Cape Town 18 35 32 Table 1.5 37 = Sao Paulo 11 21 29 ICCA Rankings – number of 37 = Shanghai 14 33 29 international association 39 Vancouver 18 34 28 meetings per city 2003–2005

••••• 12 A global industry

City 2003 2004 2005

40 = Gothenburg 28 23 25 40 = Havana 25 20 25 40 = Lyon 20 18 25 43 = New York 21 22 23 43 = Zurich 21 15 23 45 = Buenos Aires 17 35 22 45 = Montevideo 8 8 22 45 = Oslo 34 39 22 45 = Warsaw 18 20 22 49 = Manchester 9 16 21 49 = Toronto 17 26 21 49 = Valencia 23 26 21 Total 2105 2472 2545 Source: ‘International Association Meetings Market 1996–2005’, Interna- Table 1.5 tional Congress & Convention Association (web site: www.icca.world.com) Continued

anyone’s knowledge of world geography. As well as highlighting the strength of international competition for convention business, the rankings also conﬁrm that Europe’s historical pre-eminence is being challenged by destinations in Asia (e.g. Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul), Australia (e.g. Sydney, Melbourne) and South America (e.g. Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile). It should be noted that ICCA rankings are based purely on the number of meetings that meet the ICCA criteria, not their economic value. In other words, a destination would achieve a higher ranking than another destination because of a higher number of events held, even though such events might be con- siderably smaller in delegate numbers than a destination staging fewer events but with greater delegate numbers (and hence greater economic value). Further information on ICCA statistics can be accessed at: www.iccaworld.com.

Union of International Associations (UIA) Statistics Since 1949 the Union of International Associations has undertaken annual statistical studies on international meetings taking place worldwide. The statistics are based on information collected by the UIA Congress Department and selected according to very strict criteria. Meetings taken into consideration include those organized and/or sponsored by the international organizations (i.e. non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and intergovern- mental organizations (IGOs)) which appear in the UIA’s ‘Year- book of International Organizations’ and ‘International Congress Calendar’ and whose details are subject to systematic collection

13 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

on an annual basis by the UIA. Broadly these meetings comprise the ‘sittings’ of their principal organs (notably IGOs) and their congresses, conventions, symposia, and regional sessions group- ing several countries. Other meetings of ‘signiﬁcant international character’, especially those organized by national organizations and national branches of international associations, are included provided that they meet the following criteria:

• minimum number of participants: 300 • minimum number of foreigners: 40 per cent • minimum number of nationalities: 5 • minimum duration: 3 days.

These more stringent criteria for inclusion account, in large measure, for the differences between the UIA and ICCA rankings. The UIA figures for 2005 (published July 2006) include 8953 international meetings organized worldwide in 218 countries and 1468 distinct cities or destinations. The total number of meetings represents a decrease of 2.4 per cent on the 2004 figures, although the UIA is projecting that, once final figures are known (certain events are not formally registered until some months after they have taken place) the decrease could be as much as 7 to 8 per cent, equivalent to around 800 meetings. The results for 2005 suggest that the negative growth in international meeting activity, created by the collapse of meeting numbers in 2001–2002, is still not reversing as quickly as might be hoped. Approximately 15 per cent of the meetings surveyed by the UIA have a concur- rent exhibition. Some of the key findings of the 2005 figures, by continental region, highlighted by the UIA, are:

Africa ••• Africa’s share of the global market for international meetings has hovered around 5 per cent for some years. South Africa continues to be the most popular African country for meetings, and Cape Town the leading city. Kenya recorded strong growth in 2005, and occupied third place behind Egypt, with Morocco slipping into fourth position.

America ••• America’s share of the 2005 world market for international meetings was 20.4 per cent, almost identical to its position in 2004 but 1.6 per cent lower than its all-time high of 22 per cent achieved in 2000. In that year America hosted 2230 events; in 2005 it was 1824 events. The reduction has been throughout the continent with North America showing a 19 per cent fall and South America a fall of 17 per cent.

••••• 14 A global industry

Asia ••• Asia’s market share in 2005 was 14.6 per cent, compared with 14.9 per cent in 2004. China retained the top position it assumed from Japan in 2003, despite hosting 13 per cent fewer meetings. South Korea recorded growth and occupied second position, with Singapore in third place and Japan fourth.

Australasia/Pacific ••• The number of international meetings in the Australasia/Pacific region in 2005 was significantly down on 2004. The total of 264 meetings accounted for 2.9 per cent of the world market, with the long-term trends suggesting negative growth compared with its rapid increase during the latter half of the 1990s. At a country level only New Zealand is expected to show an increase in meetings for 2005.

Europe ••• Europe hosted 5134 international meetings in 2005, 57.3 per cent of the total. This is expected to reveal a small reduction on the ﬁgures for 2004. Europe’s halcyon days were in the 1950s: it hosted 80 per cent of the global meetings market in 1953. Since then Europe’s market share has declined steadily, but it still remains signiﬁcant and, at 57 per cent, is more than the rest of the world combined. The UIA produces rankings by both country and city. Table 1.6 shows the leading countries covered by the UIA research. Table 1.7 shows UIA rankings of leading cities. It should be remembered that it is the cities which are the actual ‘destinations’ for the meeting, conference or convention. Further information on UIA statistics can be accessed at: www.uia.org/statistics.

CERTAIN INDUSTRY SHORTCOMINGS Limited market intelligence It has been seen that, in comparison with many other industries, the conference industry is still a very young industry, barely 50 years of age in Europe and North America and even younger in most of the rest of the world. Although it is maturing at a very rapid rate, it is indisputable that one of the legacies of its relative immaturity is a lack of reliable statistics and regular research to provide a base of intelligence and information on trends and on the size and value of the industry (the ICCA and UIA statistics quoted in this chapter are something of an oasis in what has generally been a rather barren statistical landscape). This, in turn,

15 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

Country Number of Percentage of meetings all meetings

1 USA 1039 1161 2 France 590 659 3 Germany 410 458 4 UK 386 431 5 Italy 382 427 6 Spain 368 411 7 Netherlands 341 381 8 Austria 314 351 9 Switzerland 268 299 10 Belgium 242 270 11 China, Hong Kong & 216 241 Macau 12 Canada 214 239 13 Australia 200 223 14 South Korea 185 207 15 Singapore 177 198 16 Sweden 170 190 17 Japan 168 188 18 Denmark 138 154 19 Greece 136 152 20 Portugal 125 140 21 Finland 119 133 22 Poland 118 132 23 Hungary 117 131 24 Turkey 109 122 25 Brazil 107 120 26 India 106 118 27 Czech Republic 103 115 28 South Africa 100 112 29 Norway 98 109 30 Russia 85 095 31= Argentina 74 083 31= Thailand 74 083 33 Mexico 73 082 34 Ireland 70 078 35 Malaysia 61 068 36 Egypt 48 054 37 Croatia 46 051 38 Chile 45 050 Total Meetings (listed 7622 8513 here) Table 1.6 UIA Rankings: Top Source: ‘International Meetings Statistics for the year 2005’, Union of Inter- International Meeting national Associations ([email protected]) Countries in 2005

••••• 16 A global industry

Country Number of Percentage of meetings all meetings

1 Paris 294 328 2 Vienna 245 274 3 Brussels 189 211 4 Singapore 177 198 5 Barcelona 162 181 6 Geneva 161 180 7 New York 129 144 8 London 128 143 9 Seoul 103 115 10= Copenhagen 98 109 10= Amsterdam 98 109 12 Budapest 96 107 13 Berlin 94 105 14 Rome 88 098 15 Stockholm 87 097 16 Maastricht 85 095 17 Istanbul 83 093 18 Beijing 82 092 19 Washington 81 090 20 Prague 78 087 21 Montreal 66 074 22 Lisbon 64 071 23 Munich 62 069 24 Sydney 60 067 25 Tokyo 56 063 26 Athens 55 061 27 Helsinki 53 059 28 Buenos Aires 51 057 29 Bangkok 50 056 30= Kuala Lumpur 44 049 30= Strasbourg 44 049 30= Turin 44 049 33 Moscow 43 048 34= Melbourne 42 047 34= Dublin 42 047 36 Madrid 41 046 37= Chicago 40 045 37= San Francisco 40 045 37= Shanghai 40 045 37= Oslo 40 045 Total Meetings 3535 3948 (listed here) Table 1.7 UIA Rankings: Top Source: ‘International Meetings Statistics for the year 2005’, Union of Inter- International Meeting Cities national Associations ([email protected]) in 2005

17 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

has meant that governments have not taken the industry seriously as a major benefactor to national economies because it has been impossible to demonstrate clearly the economic impact that conferences can have (except in some of the so-called less developed countries which have very quickly realised its potential and invested accordingly). However, new research activity and initiatives are now beginning which, over time, could contribute signiﬁcantly to redress- ing the gaps in market intelligence. Among the most important is work to determine how a new statistical instrument, the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), can be used to identify the economic contribution made by the conference and meetings industry. Davidson and Rogers (2006) describe the TSA as follows: ‘A Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) provides a means of sepa- rating and examining both tourism supply and tourism demand within the general framework of the System of National Accounts approved by the United Nations. The term ‘Satellite Account’ was developed by the United Nations to measure the size of economic activities that are not deﬁned either as industries in national accounts or as a cluster of them. Tourism, for example, impacts heavily on industries such as transportation, accommodation, food and beverage services, recreation and entertainment and travel agencies. Calvin Jones and David James (2005) state that:

Tourism is a unique phenomenon as it is deﬁned by the consumer or the visitor. Visitors buy goods and services both tourism and non-tourism alike. The key from a measurement standpoint is associating their purchases to the total supply of these goods and services within a country. The TSA:

• provides credible data on the impact of tourism and the associated employment • is a standard framework for organising statistical data on tourism • is a new international standard endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission • is a powerful instrument for designing economic policies related to tourism development • provides data on tourism’s impact on a nation’s balance of payments • provides information on tourism human resource characteristics.

Agreement was reached in 2004 between the World Tourism Organization (a specialised agency of the United Nations), the International Congress & Convention Association, Meeting Pro- fessionals International, and EIBTM (the international trade

••••• 18 A global industry

exhibition for the conventions and incentives sector) for the TSA to incorporate meeting industry data for the ﬁrst time, allowing studies to be made into the relationship between expenditure on meetings and other economic measures such as Gross Domestic Product and job creation. A project team led by the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre, based in Australia, was commissioned to make recommendations on how the economic impacts of meetings and conventions should be properly measured. Its report ‘Measuring the Economic Importance of the Meetings Industry’ (published January 2007) recommends a standard methodology for measuring the value of the meetings industry based on a TSA. It seeks to:

• identify the basic data units for collection of statistics • explore how these ﬁt into existing TSA statistics • develop survey instruments to capture meetings-related expenditure and costs • identify the indicators/variables to be used for quarterly measurement of the performance of the meetings industry • create guidelines for the collection of statistics adapted to the functioning of the TSA • describe the roles of the stakeholders in the process to ensure credibility.

Other important research projects are now well established in a number of countries (see examples in Chapter 3) so that overall market intelligence is improving, but there is undoubtedly still some way to go before industry practitioners will feel that they have the information resources that meet their needs and accurately reﬂect the scope and importance of the industry.

Non-Standardised terminology One of the reasons for the limited statistics on the size and value of the industry is the lack of an accepted and properly deﬁned terminology. At a macro level, arguments still rage over whether the term ‘business tourism’ is an accurate or appropriate one to describe the sector encompassing conferences, exhibitions and incentive travel. The link with ‘tourism’ is thought to be confus- ing and overlaid with a number of negative perceptions (‘candy ﬂoss’ jobs of a seasonal and poorly paid nature, for example, and dominant associations with holidays and leisure tourism). While business tourism is the phrase now widely in use in Europe as the accepted generic term, in Australia the industry has adopted the term ‘business events’ to describe its essential focus. The acronym ‘MICE’ (for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions or Events) is also still in widespread use around

19 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

the world, despite its somewhat unfortunate connotations! In Canada this is adjusted to MC&IT: meetings, conventions and incentive travel. At the micro level, words such as ‘conference’, ‘congress’, ‘convention’, ‘meeting’ even, are often used synonymously or indis- criminately. Other words are also used with similar but more specialised connotations, such as ‘symposium’, ‘colloquium’, ‘assembly’, ‘conclave’, ‘summit’, though it is probably only the last of these for which it might be easy to reach a consensus on its precise meaning (namely, a conference of high level officials, such as heads of government). A first attempt was made by a number of industry professionals in 1990 to produce a ‘Meetings Industry Glossary’. A finished version of the Glossary was published in 1993 under the auspices of the Convention Liaison Council (now the Convention Industry Council – see Chapter 8) and the Joint Industry Council (now the Joint Meetings Industry Council – see Chapter 8) as the ‘Inter- national Meetings Industry Glossary’. This has now evolved into an electronic glossary maintained by the Convention Industry Council as part of its Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) initiative (www.conventionindustry.org/glossary). The glossary’s definitions for several key industry terms are shown below:

Conference ••• 1. Participatory meeting designed for discussion, fact find- ing, problem solving and consultation. 2. An event used by any organization to meet and exchange views, convey a message, open a debate or give publicity to some area of opinion on a specific issue. No tradition, continuity or periodicity is required to convene a conference. Although not generally limited in time, conferences are usually of short duration with specific objectives. Conferences are generally on a smaller scale than congresses.

Congress ••• 1. The regular coming together of large groups of individuals, generally to discuss a particular subject. A congress will often last several days and have several simultaneous sessions. The length of time between congresses is usually established in advance of the implementation stage, and can be either pluri-annual or annual. Most international or world congresses are of the former type while national congresses are more frequently held annually. 2. Meeting of an association of delegates or representatives from constituent organizations. 3. European term for convention.

••••• 20 A global industry

Convention ••• An event where the primary activity of the attendees is to attend educational sessions, participate in meetings/discussions, socialize, or attend other organized events. There is a secondary exhibit (exhibition) component.

Meeting ••• An event where the primary activity of the attendees is to attend educational sessions, participate in meetings/discussions, socialize, or attend other organized events. There is no exhibit (exhibition) component to this event.

The descriptions listed above help to shed some light on the nature of different kinds of ‘communications’ events, but it is perhaps not surprising that they have not as yet been adopted as succinct, easy-to-remember definitions in regular use within the twenty-first century conference and convention industry. It could be argued that the variety of available vocabulary is more a reflection of the rich diversity of the English language than a symptom of an industry with myriad events, each with its own distinct characteristics. At one level, it may not really matter whether an event is called a ‘conference’ or a ‘convention’, and certainly there are as many misuses of these terms as there are correct interpretations, if indeed such a thing as a correct inter- pretation really exists. Yet at another level, some of these terms do have a specific connotation in one part of the world, and a different connotation in another part, giving rise to potential confusion and misunderstanding. For example, the word ‘conference’ in the UK is used generically to describe events both large and small, whereas in the USA a ‘conference’ is essentially a ‘meeting’ and certainly implies an event with limited numbers of delegates/attendees. The word ‘convention’ is used to describe a large event in the UK and North America, whereas many countries in mainland Europe prefer the term ‘congress’ to describe a large ‘conference’. An initiative spearheaded by the Joint Meetings Industry Council (see Chapter 8) is recommending the adoption of the term ‘The Meetings Industry’ to describe the sector, but by 2006 this proposal had only attracted modest interest and no consistent support internationally. Clearly it is vital that any potential confusion over terminology is minimised, enabling statistics and data to be collected and interpreted in a standardised way on a worldwide level, as befits a truly global industry. This will enable the real size and value of the conference industry to be established and monitored, and is

21 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

critical to the national and international recognition and support which the industry now deserves and demands.

Underdeveloped educational framework One of the other reasons for the lack of a standardized terminology is that, for many of those now working in the industry, it is their second or even third career. They have come into conference work from related disciplines such as hotel and catering, travel, sales and marketing, public administration, but also from what might appear superficially to be unrelated spheres of employment. Whereas many, if not most, other professions have a formal induction and training process for new entrants which provides opportunities for them to be educated in the use of the accepted, clearly defined terminology, such opportunities and structures do not yet exist within the conference industry (although this is now changing with the advent of university and college courses offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes specific to the conference and conventions industry – see Chapter 7). Professional qualifications specific to the industry have existed for some years in North America. Such qualifications are now emerging elsewhere (see Chapter 7) and it is likely that, within the next 5–10 years, an appropriate range of continuing professional development (CPD) programmes and related qualifications will have been established at both national and international levels. Such a development will provide overdue support and recognition for what is a highly sophisticated industry but, nonetheless, one in which many conference organizers have received no, or only minimal, formal training, or obtained recognised qualifications to prepare them for their event management responsibili- ties. It is also frequently the case that conference organizing is only a small part of a person’s job, undertaken for just a limited period of time (see Chapter 2). These are again factors which help to explain the problems sometimes experienced with semantics and the lack of a clear, well understood terminology.

INDUSTRY PARAMETERS AND DEFINITIONS Even if precise definitions are not yet in regular use, it is important, at the beginning of a book on the conference industry, to set out certain parameters for the measurement of conference events and facilities. In the UK the organisers of the annual ‘British Conference Venues Survey’ and the ‘UK Conference Market Survey’, respec- tively the British Association of Conference Destinations and the Meetings Industry Association, have agreed to use the following definitions in undertaking their surveys: A Conference: ‘an out-of-office meeting of at least four hours’ duration involving a minimum of 8 people’.

••••• 22 A global industry

In Australia, the definition used in the 2005 ‘National Busi- ness Events Study’ to describe a Business Event was: ‘Any public or private activity consisting of a minimum of 15 persons with a common interest of vocation, held in a specific venue or venues, and hosted by an organization (or organizations). This may include (but not be limited to): conferences, conventions, symposia, congresses, incentive meetings, marketing events, spe- cial celebrations, seminars, courses, public or trade shows, exhibitions, company general meetings, corporate retreats, training programmes.’ Other research programmes use somewhat different definitions, while major conference hotel chains often base their own conference statistics on meetings involving two or more people. An early definition of a conference venue was: ‘a conference venue must be able to seat 20 or more participants theatre-style’. However, this is so hopelessly inadequate that it could even describe a large living room or den in a private house! In October 2002 leading industry bodies in the UK agreed to use the following definition of a conference venue: ‘a conference venue must be an externally-let facility (i.e. not a company’s own meeting rooms), and have a minimum of three meeting/conference rooms with a minimum seating capacity of 50 theatre-style in its largest room’. The conference industry forms one sector within ‘business tourism’, itself a sub-sector of the overall tourism industry which comprises both leisure tourism and business tourism. Apart from conferences, the other main components of business tourism are: exhibitions and trade fairs, incentive travel, corporate events or corporate hospitality and individual business travel (also referred to as ‘corporate travel’). Table 1.8 provides a matrix of the main segments of business tourism and highlights some of their key characteristics. One useful definition of a business tourist is:

a traveller whose main purpose for travelling is to attend an activity or event associated with his/her business or interests.

Conferences, exhibitions and trade fairs, incentive travel and corporate events (sometimes referred to as corporate hospitality) are the four business tourism segments which are the prime focus of marketing activity by venues and destinations, because decisions about where the events take place are open to inﬂuence. The organizers of the event may have great ﬂexibility in deciding where it is to be held, and are able to use their own judgment or discre- tion over choice of location. For this reason these four business tourism segments are sometimes described as ‘discretionary’. Individual business travel or corporate travel relates to those whose work regularly involves travel within their own country or overseas, such as a lorry driver or sales representative, as well as

23 ••••• Segment Corporate National association International Public sector/ organization association/ government inter-government

Meetings An out-of-ofﬁce meeting Board meetings, regional Limited number of Mainly organizing of at least 4 hours’ meetings, training events, board-level meetings, non-residential duration involving information events. typically lasting 1–2 meetings of up to 1 a minimum of 8 days maximum. Also day’s duration. Also people. Includes sales international meetings training courses which meetings, training, hosted by national may last for several board meetings and associations. days, and information retreats, AGMs. events. Conferences Typically of 1 or 2 days’ Usually an annual confer- An annual (or less Mostly 1-day duration with a formal ence/congress/convention for frequent) congress or conferences programme that has members lasting 2–3 days. convention rotating (occasionally 2 days) been promoted in around different attracting delegates advance. Delegates are countries or continents, from the local area or often compelled to with selection based on region. attend. bids received from individual cities. Typically of 3–5 days’ duration. Incentive Travel A business tourism trip Not applicable. Not applicable. Not applicable. to motivate and reward employees and dealers, usually containing a conference element. Exhibitions Product launches, May include the organization May include the Information/regional attendance as an of an exhibition to run organization of an trade events. exhibitor at trade and alongside its own exhibition to run consumer shows conference; also participation alongside its own organized by specialist in other industry trade shows conference; occasional exhibition organizers or as an exhibitor. Trade participation in other trade associations. Also associations are also primary industry trade shows as attendance as a exhibition organizers. an exhibitor. corporate visitor (‘buyer’) at trade shows. Corporate Events (also Hosted entertainment at Not common, although some Not normally applicable. Not applicable. known as Corporate major sporting events, professional and trade Hospitality) concerts, and other high associations may organize proﬁle functions, and/or golf days or other sporting participation in sporting events for their members. or outdoor pursuits-type activities.

Table 1.8 ‘MICE’ Matrix (illustrating the segments which make up the business tourism sector) Conferences and Conventions

to people who may have to travel away from their normal place of employment from time to time (a management consultant, for example, or an engineer responsible for installing a new piece of equipment in a client’s factory). In all such business travel, which represents a major portion of business tourism, the opportunities to inﬂuence where the individual travels to are minimal, and this segment is consequently referred to as ‘non-discretionary’.

BUSINESS TOURISM AND LEISURE TOURISM Reference has already been made to the broad division of tourism into the two sectors of business tourism and leisure tourism, although these two sectors share much common ground. As Davidson (1994) points out:

business tourism, in particular, can involve a substantial leisure element. Incentive travel, for example, may con- sist entirely of leisure, sport and entertainment. But, even for conference delegates, visitors to trade fairs and individual business travellers, excursions to local restaurants and places of entertainment, or sightseeing tours, can be a way of relaxing at the end of the working day. Socialis- ing in this way can be an important part of the business tourism experience for groups, as it gives delegates or colleagues the opportunity to unwind together and get to know each other on a less formal basis.

This is why bidding destinations sell the concept of ‘destination’ and place great emphasis on everything from leisure, cultural and entertainment assets to shopping, sports and dining options. Davidson also makes clear that:

the distinction between the two categories of tourism is further blurred by the presence of ‘accompanying persons’ alongside many business tourism events. Incentive travel often includes the husbands or wives of those selected for such trips. But also, it is not uncommon for those travelling to exotic destinations for conferences or trade fairs and exhibitions to take their spouses along and make a short holiday out of the trip. In such cases, the couple may prolong their stay in order to have the time to tour around the destination after the business part of the trip is over.

The phrase ‘business extenders’ has emerged in the UK to describe this phenonemon, and much marketing spend is now devoted to increasing the number of business extenders. Business tourism and leisure tourism rely on the same, or a very similar, infrastructure for their success. Both sectors need

••••• 26 A global industry

accommodation (hotels, guest houses), transport and communications (airports, railway stations, good road networks, coach and taxi services, modern telecommunications links), entertainment (shopping, bars and restaurants, night clubs/casinos, visitor attractions), as well as information and advisory services, emer- gency medical services and an attractive, welcoming, safe and secure environment. The Coral Beach Hotel & Resort, Cyprus is a good example of a tourism product catering equally well for both the business and leisure tourism sectors by focusing on several niche markets: conferences and conventions, incentive trips, sports tourism, and leisure tourism for higher spending holidaymakers. Case study 1.5 gives a more in-depth analysis of the Coral Beach product and business strategy. But conference and business tourism has additional infrastructure needs, such as appropriate venues, specialist contractors (audio-visual suppliers, exhibition contractors, interpreters, for example), and, perhaps most importantly, staff who are trained to be aware of and to respond to the particular needs of conference organizers and delegates. It is in the provision of this latter ser- vice that venues and destinations sometimes fail, a theme which is further developed in later chapters of this book.

THE BENEFITS OF CONFERENCE AND BUSINESS TOURISM Although business tourism and leisure tourism rely on a similar infrastructure, the former brings with it a number of signi- ﬁcant extra beneﬁts which makes it particularly attractive to destinations.

Greater proﬁtability Conference and business tourism caters for the high quality, high cost and, therefore, high yield end of the market. In 2005, for example, conference visitors to the United Kingdom from overseas spent an average of £164 per day compared with an average of just £57 per day for all categories of visitors (source: Interna- tional Passenger Survey 2005). The greater spending power of business tourists means increased economic beneﬁts for the host destination and a greater return on its investment in infrastructure and marketing.

All-year-round activity Conference and business tourism takes place throughout the year. Spring and Autumn are the peak seasons of the year for conferences (with most of the larger, high proﬁle association and political party conferences taking place at these times in the UK), but many smaller conferences and meetings are also held during

27 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

the Winter months. In the northern hemisphere, January, July and August are the months of least activity which, for many resort- type destinations, is an added beneﬁt because it means that there is no clash between the demands of leisure and business tourism, but rather they are complementary. The all-year-round nature of conference and business tourism also leads to the creation and sustenance of permanent jobs, as opposed to the seasonal, temporary jobs which are a frequent characteristic of the leisure tourism sector. This, in turn, ensures that ‘careers’ rather than simply ‘jobs’ can be offered to new entrants, even though clearly deﬁned structures and opportunities for career progression are not yet fully established.

Future inward investment Those organizing a conference or incentive travel trip will always be very keen to make sure that it is as successful as possible. One of the ways in which this can be achieved is by giving delegates and participants a pleasant, positive experience of the destination in which the event is being held. This usually means showing delegates the most attractive, scenic parts of the destination in the hope that, by creating a memorable experience for them, many will return. Where this has been undertaken successfully, some delegates/attendees return as leisure visitors, often bringing their partners and families for a holiday or short break. Some may have been so impressed that they decide to re-locate their business to the destination or look to set up a subsidiary operation there. As Davidson (1994) says:

a business visitor who leaves with a good impression of the conference, trade fair or incentive destination becomes an unpaid ambassador for that place...these are often inﬂuential people, whose opinions of the destination will be instrumental in determining its image in the minds of others who have not visited it.

It could be argued that a single meeting of inﬂuential business executives can do more to increase a destination’s exposure than years of promotion by economic development ofﬁcials.

Professional development Maple (2006), as president of the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC) and general manager of the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Center, contends that:

large events like conventions are designed to bring the best (people) in any given ﬁeld together in an environment

••••• 28 A global industry

where information can be shared and progress identiﬁed. When this happens, it creates a big boost to local knowledge and skills in any imaginable discipline. Medical conferences are a great example. When the top researchers and practitioners get together, they are looking at the very latest results and procedures in their respective ﬁelds. They are deciding what advances are most important and which areas are the most promising for the future; in short, everything you would like the local medical community to have access to. Now multiply that possibility by any number of different professions, trades or business sectors, and you begin to get the idea of what having meetings, conventions and exhibitions can do to promote the professional skills in a community.

‘Green’ tourism Conference and business tourism has fewer negative impacts on the environment than mass leisure tourism. It is concerned with smaller numbers, but much higher spend. It is characterised by the use of coach transfers and public transport (or Shanks’ pony) within a destination, minimising trafﬁc congestion and environmental pollution. Conference delegates are together as a group, so that it is possible to inform and educate them about the local community in which their conference is being held in order to maximize the enjoyment of their stay but also to minimize any disruption and possible inconvenience to the local resident population. It is very much harder to manage, in the same way, the impact of individual leisure travellers on a destination. However, it would be naïve to claim that business tourism does not have its negative impacts, especially on the physical environment. These are well summarized by Swarbrooke and Horner (2001):

If we want to make business travel and tourism more sustainable, we have to recognize that there are characteristics of business tourism which make it particularly problematic in relation to the concept of sustainable tourism. First, most business tourists take more trips in a year than the average leisure tourist, thus making more demands on transport infrastructure and destination services. Business tourists tend to be very demanding and want high quality facilities, even in towns and cities in developing countries. While both of these are difﬁcult to reconcile with the concept of sustainable tourism, the

29 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

positive side of business tourism is the fact that business travellers tend to be higher spending than leisure tourists.

Improved Quality of Life Convention centres and the kinds of activities they support play an important role in enhancing the overall quality of life in a community. Maple (2006) suggests that, to survive, communities need some kind of industrial activity:

preferably one that brings in money from outside the local economy

But, she adds:

a lot of of these industries are less than completely benign, particularly from a community or environmental perspective. The convention business, on the other hand, does more than simply avoid damaging its host community. It actually thrives on the kind of qualities people typically want around them: things like an attractive environment and cultural attributes, and provides a sound economic reason to support and enhance these qualities to everyone’s advantage.

Summary

• the USA was the first country to recognize the potential economic benefits of conference business for a city or local destination. Detroit was the first US city to establish a convention and visitor bureau in 1896, followed by a number of other US cities in the early years of the twentieth century. Europe did not follow suit until the latter half of the twentieth century, and it was at this time also that conference tourism came to be recognised as an industry in its own right • the final two decades of the twentieth century and the early years of the twenty-first century have witnessed spectacular investment in the infrastructure which supports both leisure and conference/business tourism. Such investments are taking place not only in the more established conference destinations of Western Europe and North America, but in every continent and region • the conference industry is now a truly global industry, with over two hundred countries vying for a share of the lucrative international conferences and meetings.

••••• 30 A global industry

A greater market share is now being won by countries in Eastern Europe and in the Asia/Paciﬁc region in particular • the conference industry is still young though maturing at a rapid rate. Symptomatic of the industry’s youthfulness, yet contributing to its lack of proper recognition in commercial and political circles, is the lack of a com- prehensive statistical base to measure its true size and value, although improvements are now in sight. Its relative immaturity is also shown in its use and misuse of terminology • conference/business tourism and leisure tourism are closely intertwined, relying on similar infrastructure and support services. However, conference tourism also has a number of unique characteristics and advantages, which can bring additional beneﬁts to those destinations successful in attracting conference business.

Review and discussion questions

1. Analyse the destination and/or venue case studies in this Chapter and identify the principal features which each have in common and which are contributing to their success as conference destinations or venues. Then compare these with a destination or venue which has been less successful and put forward reasons why it has fared less well in the international conference marketplace. 2. Summarize the main changes in international convention market share experienced by one continent over recent years, giving examples of national and city destinations, and drawing comparisons with another continent. Suggest strate- gies for increasing its market share. 3. Compare and contrast the conference industry with another young industry (for example, computing and information technology, the ﬁtness and health food industry). Draw con- clusions on which has progressed further, and give reasons why. 4. Choose a resort destination active in both the leisure and conference/business tourism sectors. Identify the best niche markets for both sectors (see also Chapters 2 and 3) and produce the ‘ideal calendar’ of business for a year which maximizes use of its facilities and generates the highest level of economic beneﬁt.

31 ••••• Conferences and Conventions

Notes and references

1. Davidson, R (1994), Business Travel, Addison Wesley Longman Limited. 2. Davidson, R and Rogers, T (2006), Marketing Destinations and Venues for Conferences, Conventions and Business Events, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. 3. Gartrell, R. B (second edition, 1994), Destination Marketing for Convention and Visitor Bureaus, published under the auspices of the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus by Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. 4. International Association Meetings Market 1996–2005, Interna- tional Congress and Convention Association (2006). 5. International Meetings Statistics for the year 2005, Union of International Associations (2006). 6. Jones, C and James, D, The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA): A Vision, Challenge and Reality, published in ‘Tourism’ Issue 123, Quarter 2, 2005 (The Tourism Society). 7. Maple, B, article entitled More than just money, Conference + Meetings World magazine (June 2006). 8. Shone, Anton (1998), The Business of Conferences, Butterworth-Heinemann. 9. Swarbrooke, J and Horner, S (2001), Business Travel and Tourism, Butterworth-Heinemann.